California corner debating on last official

Steve Ryan

12/21/2005

At this point of the season, the spots left for commits are few, the visits left are slim and for each school, it's a matter of picking through the list of who they have and what they need on the team. For James Smith, he's not necessarily waiting around on schools to decide that, because he's got plenty of options already, but with some, that's the scenario right now. Who figures it out first will probably make that list as his last or one of the last official visits.

When you have 45 receptions for over 1,000 yards,
don't need to tell anyone you are an athlete. Add that to an impressive 6 foot,
2 inch, 195 pound frame, you've got from specialist to a guy any coach could see
on either side of the ball. That's the situation Colton high school's James Smith is in and right now he's just trying to make up his mind not on what
position he wants to play, but where he's going to take the rest of his official
visits.

"I've already been to Boise State and Nevada-Reno," James said.
"For the rest, I have one scheduled on the 13th at Washington State and I might
be visiting Hawaii on the 20th. That hasn't been scheduled yet, but I think
that's when it might be."

With the prolific year on offense, you'd
probably think that most schools want him to be a wideout. At his size, though,
you have to wonder what Smith can do at DB. During his senior year at Colton,
James had two interceptions, along with 47 tackles, 1 fumble return and eight
pass break ups.

‘Nuff said

As to what James wants to play, he's
open to all possibilities, but he's got his eye set on one particular side of
the ball. "I like defense," Smith said. "I like to hit people, so that's where
I'd like to play."

The position won't necessarily dictate the ultimate
school, Smith said, but he did say that regardless, time was running out. He was
trying to schedule the rest of his official visits and there's the
aforementioned duo as candidates for the final one.

And James isn't
making it complicated as to which place he'll go as it comes down to one simple
thing: "Basically, whoever sets it up first with me, that's probably where my
last official visit will go," James said. "So, I guess we'll see who contacts me
first."

Being a California kid, one might assume Smith cares about
weather. Being a west coast kid, one might assume that he's partial to the Pac
Ten. There's lot of assumptions you could make, but James said to all of them
that there was no criteria important to him outside of being at a place where he
felt like it was a place he should be. "If I am comfortable there and feel
there's an opportunity to play, that's where I will go," he said. "I just want
to feel that wherever I go, that's a place I will want to be for
years."